20.

The complexity of word meaning is possible to

be segmented into denotative and connotative
meaning. In most cases the denotative meaning is
essentially cognitive: it conceptualises and classifies
our experience and names for the listener some
objects spoken about. Fulfilling the significative and
the communicative functions of the word it is present
in every word and may be regarded as the central
factor in the functioning of language. The
description of the denotative meaning or meanings is
the duty of lexicographers in unilingual explanatory
dictionaries.
Denotation. The conceptual content of a word is
expressed in its denotative meaning. To denote is to
serve as a linguistic expression for a concept or as a
name for an individual object. It is the denotational
meaning that makes communication possible.
21. Affixes can also be classified into productive and
non-productive types. By productive affixes we
mean the ones, which take part in deriving new
words in this particular period of language
development. The best way to identify productive
affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-
called nonce-words, i. e. words coined and used only
for this particular occasion. The latter are usually
formed on the level of living speech and reflect the
most productive and progressive patterns in word-
building. When a literary critic writes about a certain
book that it is an unputdownable thriller, we will
seek in vain this strange and impressive adjective in
dictionaries, for it is a nonce-word coined on the
current pattern of Modern English and is evidence of
the high productivity of the adjective-forming
borrowed suffix -able and the native prefix un-.
The adjectives thinnish and baldish bring to mind
dozens of other adjectives made with the same
suffix: oldish, youngish, mannish, girlish, fattish,
longish, yellowish, etc. But dispeptic-lookingish is
the author's creation aimed at a humorous effect,
and, at the same time, proving beyond doubt that the
suffix -ish is a live and active one.
One should not confuse the productivity of affixes
with their frequency of occurrence. There are quite a
number of high-frequency affixes which,
nevertheless, are no longer used in word-derivation
(e. g. the adjective-forming native suffixes -ful, -ly;
the adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin -ant, -
ent, -al which are quite frequent).
Some Productive Affixes
Noun-forming suffixes -er, -ing, -ness, -ism1
(materialism), -ist1 (impressionist), -ance
Adjective-forming suffixes -y, -ish, -ed (learned), -
able, -less
Adverb-forming suffixes –ly
Verb-forming suffixes -ize/-ise (realise), -ate
Prefixes un- (unhappy), re- (reconstruct), dis-
(disappoint)
Some Non-Productive Affixes
Noun-forming suffixes -th, -hood
Adjective-forming suffixes -ly, -some, -en, -ous
Verb-forming suffix -en
22. The branch of linguistics concerned with the
meaning of words and word equivalents is called
semasiology. The name comes from the Greek
sēmasiā ‘signification’ (from sēma ‘sign’ sēmantikos
‘significant’ and logos ‘learning’).
The grammatical meaning is defined as an
expression in speech of relationships between words
based on contrastive features of arrangements in
which they occur. The grammatical meaning is more
abstract and more generalised than the lexical
meaning, it unites words into big groups such as
parts of speech or lexico-grammatical classes. It is
recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of
different words. E. g. parents, books, intentions,
whose common element is the grammatical meaning
of plurality.
Especially interesting examples of significative
meaning may be found in aphorisms, proverbs and
other sayings rendering general ideas. E. g.: A good
laugh is sunshine in the house (Thackeray) or The
reason why worry kills more people than work is that
more people worry than work (Frost) contain words
in their significative meanings.
23. The procedure generally employeв for the
purposes ofsegmenting words into the
constituent morphemes is the method of
Immediate and Ultimate Constituents. This
method is based on a binary principle, i.e. each
stage of the procedure involves two components
of the word immediately breaks into. At each
stage these two components are referred to as the
Immediate Constituents (ICs). Each 1C at the next
stage of analysis is in turn broken into two smaller
meaningful elements. The analysis is completed
when we arrive at constituents incapable of
further division, i.e. morphemes. In terms of the
method employed these are referred to as the
Ultimate Constituents (UCs). For example the
noun friendliness is first segmented into the 1C
friendly recurring in the adjectives friendly-
looking and friendly and the -ness found in a
countless number of nouns, such as happiness,
darkness, unselfishness, etc. The 1C -ness is at the
same time a UC of the noun, as it cannot be
broken into any smaller elements possessing both
sound-form and meaning. The 1C friendly is next
broken into the ICs friend-and -ly recurring in
friendship, unfriendly, etc. on the one hand, and
wifely, brotherly, etc., on the other. Needless to
say that the ICs friend -and -ly are both UCs of
the word under analysis.
The morphemic analysis according to the 1C and
UC may be carried out on the basis of two
principles: the so-called root principle and the
affix principle. According to the affix principle
the segmentation of the word into its constituent
morphemes is based on the identification of an
affixational morpheme within a set of words; for
example, the identification of the suffixational
morpheme -less leads to the segmentation of
words like useless, hopeless, merciless, etc., into
the suffixational morpheme -less and the root-
morphemes within a word-cluster; the
identification of the root-morpheme agree- in the
words agreeable, agreement, disagree makes it
possible to split ..these words into the root -agree-
and the affixational morphemes -able, -ment, dis-.
As a rule, the application of one of these
principles is sufficient for the morphemic
segmentation of words.
24. Etymological Doublets
The words shirt and skirt etymologically descend
from the same root. Shirt is a native word, and skirt
(as the initial sk suggests), is a Scandinavian
borrowing. Their phonemic shape is different, and
yet there is a certain resemblance which reflects their
common origin. Their meanings are also different
but easily associated: they both denote articles of
clothing.
Such words as these two originating from the same
etymological source, but differing in phonemic shape
and in meaning are called etymological doublets.
They may enter the vocabulary by different routes.
Some of these pairs, like shirt and skirt, consist of a
native word and a borrowed word: shrew, n. (E.) —
screw, n. (Sc.).
Others are represented by two borrowings from
different languages which are historically descended
from the same root: senior (Lat.) — sir (Fr.), canal
(Lat.) — channel (Fr.), captain (Lat.) — chieftan
(Fr.).
Still others were borrowed from the same language
twice, but in different periods: corpse [ko:ps] (Norm.
Fr.) — corps [ko:] (Par. Fr.), travel (Norm. Fr.) —
travail (Par. Fr.), cavalry (Norm. Fr.) — chivalry
(Par. Fr.), gaol (Norm. Fr.) — jail (Par. Fr.).
Etymological triplets (i. e. groups of three words of
common root) occur rarer, but here are at least two
examples: hospital (Lat.) — hostel (Norm. Fr.) —
hotel (Par. Fr.), to capture (Lat.) — to catch (Norm.
Fr.) — to chase (Par. Fr.).
A doublet may also consist of a shortened word and
the one from which it was derived (see Ch. 6 for a
description of shortening as a type of word-
building): history — story, fantasy — fancy, fanatic
— fan, defence — fence, courtesy — curtsy, shadow
— shade.